


Iron and Starlight

by XinySnom



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Original Character - Freeform, dimensional rifts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25529092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XinySnom/pseuds/XinySnom
Summary: When a female gets lost in the dimensional soup, she finds herself in the Avengers universe and chooses to go along for the ride instead of immediately leaving for the next dimension.
Relationships: Tony Stark/OC Loki/OC Bruce Banner/OC
Comments: 1





	1. Prelude

Location: Canadian Glaciers, Unknown

Everything up to that point was a haze of green; a tantalizing shade of emerald green. The mist, swirling and curling around in those invisible currents of air, drifted slowly in the fog of her mind. Her body felt heavier than what she remembered it to be, but it didn’t matter. It surrounded her body in a luxurious wrap. The allure of that green cushion was intoxicating…too intoxicating.

It was because her mind and body were in that cloudy, drugged state; the cold against her skin took longer to register on her synapses. When the external stimulate finally did penetrate the green haze, the young woman knew she was out of that drift-less element; and thankfully, somewhere else other than the complete starry darkness of the Void. Gravity was working upon her body.

“What the, what!?” The cerulean-haired young woman thrust herself up into a sitting position. “COLD!”

Immediately, she yelped in a cold shock, throwing her arms around herself in a futile attempt to keep her body warm. At the same time, her lagoon-colored eyes snapped open, then shut; blocking out the harsh glare of the sun on the reflective white ground.

“Too bright…” the clothes on the woman were severely inadequate for the place she was in. Her attire, a cotton green long sleeved shirt and a pair of white – yes white – jeans, covered her body. A winter-standard jacket was missing, as was a nice pair of thermal socks. The purple ratty flip-flops on her feet did nothing to keep her toes warm. In short, she was completely not dressed for the frigid environment. “Too cold…”

Squinting her eyes slightly open, the young woman could see a plane of ice and snow-covered ground, stretching out towards the horizon. “Great, I’m going to die of hypothermia. I don’t even know where I’m at.”

Turning around slowly, as her teeth started to chatter, the young woman groaned at what she saw behind her – yet more frozen tundra, reaching out towards the opposing horizon. The white and blue line was broken by jagged lumps, possibly a mountainous patch of land. She would freeze before she got three yards closer to those mountains.

“I’m going to die here, this really sucks.” She chattered miserably to herself. “I might as well die trying to save myself.”

The woman, ignoring the strands of otherworldly-colored-hair whipping in her face, lifted one foot to take that first step towards the mountains in the distance.

~~~

North America: Manhattan

The flash of red and gold could be seen if an eye was positioned just in the right kind of place to see it. However, since the bi-colored iron-made suit was high in the sky, it would be a person’s lucky day to even catch a glint of the flying robot-suit. Regardless of being seen or not, the human beneath the dual-colored iron suit was oblivious to his surroundings. Tony Stark, the man behind the machine, was flying high in the sky listening to Black Sabbath on repeat.

“Sir.” The A.I. voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just Another Really Very Intelligent System) interrupted Tony’s music.

“Yes, J.A.R.V.I.S.? What is it?” The black-haired billionaire answered.

“There is a call waiting for you from Director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D.” The online Siri-like masculine voice informed its programmer. “This is the fifth time he has tried to reach you, Sir.”

“Well, I guess I should answer it then, shouldn’t?” Tony redundantly asked. With a mental flick of will power, he connected to the line.

“Damn it, Stark, when will you learn to pick up the first time?” The growling voice of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury aimed itself at the Man of Iron.

“Today, maybe?” Tony quipped back. “Tomorrow possibly, or perhaps never.”

“Whatever, Stark. I need you to investigate these coordinates. There was a massive surge of supernova energy just minutes ago, and S.H.I.E.L.D. recognizes it from sixty years back.”

“Wow, that’s great and all, but I don’t care.” Tony scoffed.

“I want you to find her and bring her in.” Fury’s conversation continued.

“Her? So the supernova energy is female?” Tony sounded intrigued.

“Yes, and if you decide to stop flying around like a clueless bird, then you just might get to hear a very interesting story.” The gruff S.H.I.E.L.D. director baited the hook, and knew that Iron Man would take the mission. “We cannot have her running rampant with her unique energy while the Tesseract is on earth. If they both collide, who knows what will happen.”

“Ok, fine, I give.” Iron Man responded, downloading the information that Nick sent him. “But if I find her and bring her in, she’ll be Stark Property.”

“Heh, I highly doubt she’ll go for that, but you can take that up with her when you find her.” Fury chuckled. “Just don’t underestimate her, Stark, she has serious power and no qualms about using it if she feels threatened.”

“We’ll see, Fury, we’ll see.” Iron Man related back. “I’ll contact you when if find this so called ‘Her’. Stark out.” Iron Man hung up the line and changed his trajectory to the northern reaches of upper Canada.  
Finding a female who had incredible energy from a star? Tony Stark’s curiosity was fully engaged. He’d see who he would find at the coordinates S.H.I.E.L.D. has given him.


	2. Stark Industries

One month later, Manhattan:

Stark Tower was the most unique building in the city, and quite intimidating for the young woman to be standing in front of. The eighty-two floors of newly constructed sleek white-painted metal and glass-paneled sides of the tower shimmered in the morning light. The woman craned her head back to look up at the sleek tower and gave a low whistle of awe. She had briefly researched about the place and was surprised to find that the tower was in the process of converting to clean, renewable energy; and as such, was more impressive to her. Bringing her head down, the young woman looked back over her black-clad shoulder to the passing foot-traffic.

She was set apart from the city’s sidewalks, as she had come to a stop in the wide white outer concrete grounds that marked the tower’s entrance for its multitude of employees. A few people were paused in stride, staring at her. It didn’t help that her cerulean-colored hair marked her as different, the long braid trailing down her back to her rear. But the young woman chalked their stares to pure curiosity; after all, who wouldn’t want to see things happen at the newly built Stark Tower. Sighing to herself, she shook her head and turned to face the double glass doors of the company that called her in for an interview.

The interview call-in which brought her here had awoken her this morning as the owner of Stark Industries had somehow gotten her apartment phone number. The man had called time and time again until she had answered the stupid thing. Tony Stark wanted to interview her for a job at his gleaming new tower. The call had been unexpected, since she hadn’t put in any applications in there. In fact, she had just moved into the city, fifteen days back and really didn’t have anything to show on any résumé, let alone apply anywhere. It apparently didn’t matter to the blatantly handsome billionaire playboy philanthropist; he called her in to fill a job, and so she would answer the call and show up.

After all, it was just rude to ignore one’s very wealthy sponsor. The billionaire had taken her under his wing and set her up with the basic amenities of the city: a pent house apartment, high-quality food, fancy clothes, high-tech gizmos and other things she really had no decent use for. Tony Stark had literally paid for everything she had, even the clothes she was wearing at the moment; which brought her mind back to the task at hand: the interview.

“Well, I might as well go in and do the interview.” She muttered to herself, shaking out of her thoughts. “Let’s do it!” However, before she could walk towards the fancy new glass doors, the she felt a strong hand on the small of her back.

“Good morning, Sparkles. You look fantastic.” The voice of none other than Anthony Stark came from behind her.

The young woman whipped around to face the billionaire for the first time in fifteen days. What she found was nothing she expected. Anthony Stark stood very close behind her, close enough that she almost brush her nose against his chin; getting a strong whiff of his cologne. She stepped back with a slight blush on her face. He was a man who inspired other women to throw themselves at him. The billionaire was dressed casually in an ecru-colored polo silk shirt. The probably insanely expensive and nicely pressed pants – taupe colored – fluttered slightly in the wind. Shining black dress shoes completed his ensemble.

“Ah, ah, eyes up here, Superstar.” His husky voice told her again. She lifted her lagoon-hued eyes into blue ones. He was smiling broadly at her, his facial hair impeccably groomed and looking so sexy on him.

“What is your major malfunction, you pervert?” She muttered, looking away and feeling embarrassed – and weak – at his innuendo. His response wasn’t what she wanted: the billionaire had heard her, tossed his head back and laughed.

“Sparkles, you are a barrel of laughs.” The dark-haired man stopped his laughter as he looked down at the shorter woman, his eyes shining with mirth. He had removed his fashionable sunglasses onto his head so the bright sunlight wouldn’t reflect into her eyes and blind her. He studied her intensely.

“Why do you have to get into my personal space, Mr. Stark?” The woman, Jiru, inquired the touchy-feely philanthropist, turning away from the sharp gaze.

“Ah, well, because I know you like it, Starburst.” Tony moved his hand upward, to rest around her shoulders. “Which is why you haven’t punched me in the face yet.”

“Whatever.” Jiru’s embarrassment switched to low-tone ire. Tony didn’t hear her as the billionaire bodily guided her into the building.

“Welcome to Stark Tower, Sparkles.” Tony gestured with a side-ways sweep of his arm. “In all its grand, new glory. Do you like it? Of course you like it, it’s new and shiny.”

Inside the grandeur Stark Tower, things were busy. People in black, white, navy-blue (and even an orange) suits and were striding all over the place. Many hands held electronic devices and dark styluses; paper was nowhere to be seen. Heels and men’s shoes clacked and clipped on the blue-white marble flooring as those device-focused people went to and fro different places. The building was new, as Stark said, so everything was hectic and busy.

“Good morning Mr. Stark.” A feminine voice came from Jiru’s right; being directed to the man draped on her left. Looking over, she found the owner of the voice; an older woman wearing a black Armani suit with white undertones of skirt and shirt. Her grayed hair was tightly coiled into a bun and pinned back harshly on her head. The woman looked like a mean old thing; like somebody’s grandmother gone bad.

“Ah, good morning Mrs. Yales.” Tony replied flippantly to the elderly lady rushing up to them. “You have my schedule for today?”

“Yes of course, Mr. Stark.” The woman smiled brightly at Mr. Stark; keeping her death glare for the young woman on Stark’s arm. “Here it is, Sir.” The woman handed an electronic pad to Tony, which he took to look at. A few other business men and women joined the first and queued around the man.

Jiru sighed to herself as the billionaire engaged the sleek black digital device and the growing group of people; the billionaire probably had other things to do than waste his time on her. Stepping away from Stark, she looked around the lobby area of the business. The interior was really classy enough to provide a statement: a statement which said the building was high-end and cutting edge in trend. From white marble floors to real plants to black snazzy front desks with marble countertops, the lobby had been decorated very elegantly; which made her think she was completely inferior to the high-class standards that Stark Industries put out. The paintings on one wall alone looked to cost more than her net worth; which was to be expected because she currently didn’t have a dime to her name. She sighed to herself and waited patiently, because she had nothing else to do. Just what the billionaire-genius who had rescued her from a freezing death wanted from her was beyond comprehension.

~~~

Tony Stark glanced briefly over to the cerulean-haired young woman who wore the elegant black company-uniform: a white blouse shirt, with a knee-length black skirt with a matching black cardigan. She was a short little thing, just barely reaching five foot. Everything about her was mediocre, yet unique. Her face was round, yet full of character, her lagoon-green eyes sharp and attentive. Her small breasts gave off slight, alluring curves that made her just enough to be a lithe woman; over all she was small and thin, yet had enough muscle/fat to give her slim curves. The press would have an aneurysm by the end of the day when the public would find out he hired this unique woman to fill a position at the new Stark Tower. The one thing about her that drew everybody’s attention was her hair. Her hair was naturally cerulean in color, and it was absolutely beautiful on her.

Ever since he first ‘met’ her when he had rescued her in the frigid wasteland of the Canadian Glaciers, Tony had to have her near him, because she was completely fascinating. S.H.I.E.L.D. had classified her as dangerous, but the Man of Iron didn’t care. The heir to Stark Industries was going uncover just what made her so special; enough so that she had gained the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The only reason it took longer to get her in, was because her legal papers just came in that morning, finally making her a natural US citizen. Tony himself had set everything up for the woman because, like the S.H.I.E.L.D. files stated, she wasn’t born on US soil. She hadn’t even been born on the planet, but that was something the public didn’t need to know.

“So, Superstar, you ready for this interview?” He finished playing fake with being immersed in the digital schedule he had already memorized. He waved away the company groupies who had gathered around him; most likely to stare at the new girl. The business of the new tower would just have to go on without him today.

“I’m sorry, what?” the young woman turned towards him and looking startled. Tony loved the look of innocent-confusion in her lagoon-green eyes. He felt himself getting a hard on right there. This was one hell of physical attraction case, and he found it rather invigorating. He would love to explore every natural inch of her body.

“The interview; Sparkles, are you ready?” Tony coughed and moved to avoid a rather embarrassing situation for the both of them. With company flunkies around and staring at the both of them, it wouldn’t be wise to satiate his lust then and there. He would take care of that when he managed to get her on the still-under-construction top floor pent-house suite.

“Oh, right. The interview.” She smiled softly and nodded. Tony felt his knees go weak. “I’m ready, I guess.”

“I bet you are, Short-Stuff.” Stark chuckled to himself. Then, as he motioned her to follow him, Stark made towards the elevators. He grabbed another digital pad off the main desk as they passed by and, with quick fingers, pulled up just the application he wanted. A personal questionnaire that he tailor-made for the intriguing woman he had found in the glacier plains.

“Hey, Starburst, on our way up I want you to answer a few questions on this, alright?”

“Um, ok.” She answered evenly. The woman took the digital pad and looked at it.

Jiru looked at the digital pad that Tony had handed her. The device itself was way beyond awesome, as the semi-solid screen sat between two black sticks. Apparently, whatever the two black sticks held between/in them was enough to display a digital touch screen. Technology in this dimension was way beyond her expectations. Then again, Stark Industries was beyond everybody on the planet. This dimension was the third such type she had encountered with such hi-end tech. After going through thirty different dimensions, she shouldn’t have been that surprised by technology. Sighing to herself before focusing on the data-screen of questions, Jiru just went with the flow. Great, these questions were the regular normal application questions; such as name, address, zip code, phone number – something she had yet to memorize. Just what was she to use as a last name?

“Uhm…Mr. Stark?” Jiru hesitantly looked over to the drop-dead sexy billionaire next to her. He had not only held open the elevator doors for her, but now stood extremely close. He was attractive enough to bring a blush to her cheeks; she was always a sucker for the handsome men with devious personalities; which Stark fit to a T.

“Please, Superstar, call me Tony.” The dark-haired man smiled brightly at her. She mentally swayed, weak in the knees: Damn the man for having such a gorgeous smile.

“Why are you calling me Superstar?” She asked, lowering the questionnaire device. “I mean…I don’t get it.”

“Of course you don’t Sparkles. You have a slight inferiority-complex, also known as over-modesty. You have the mindset of being intellectually inferior to others, which we’ll have to work on because you are one smart cookie.” Tony turned his head to her and psychoanalyzed. “Don’t get me wrong, babe, but I’d like for you to really open yourself up and shine. You would be absolutely amazing.”

Upon hearing what he said, she felt the heat rise in her cheeks. He was tossing her heavy-duty compliments and picking her apart so casually. It was nearly too much for her system to handle. Jiru had been feeling very rushed and intimidated by the crazy environment of the large city and now the close proximity of a man who played her hormones like an instrument.

“Thanks…I guess.” She whispered in answer.

“What was that, Sparkles?” Tony had turned away from her, but now looked at her again.

“I said thanks.” She repeated.

“No problem.”

A stretch of silence grew between them as the elevator car continued its upward movement. Jiru lifted her digital form up again when Tony broke the silence.

“You really are quite something.” His left hand came out of his pant pocket in order to reach over to her face – since she was a half-head shorter than Stark. With rather a soft touch, Tony ran his finger over her right temple and some of her hair. “I was up long hours reading up on your files.”

“My…files?” Jiru lowered the data screen again and gave the billionaire a blank look. “What files?”

His statement took a few seconds for her to process, but when it did, she stepped away from Tony Stark and felt the first tiny neurons of her brain fire panic impulses. “I…don’t have any files here…”

“…on this world, right.” Tony finished for her. “Don’t worry about it at all, Sparkles. It’s ok. I know you’re not from around here. You’re what, an alien visitor?”

“…” Jiru felt her breath quicken as her body began to shake. All her systems were going haywire: somebody in this dimension…on the planet…KNEW ABOUT HER ALREADY!

With a sigh of resignation, Tony turned fully towards her, placing both his hands on her black-clad shoulders. The tremor he felt beneath his hands gave him cause to be concerned. “You ok, Superstar?”

“No…I’-m…not.” Jiru hissed before the rush of panic turned her vision white, then black, casting her into unconsciousness.

~~~

_“Lovey…” A masculine voice echoed throughout the dark expanse. “You know you cannot escape me, lovey.”_

_“Who are you?” Jiru called out, not fully comprehending what was going on. “Where am I?”_

_“You know full well who I am, my dear.” The silky-catty voice was behind her ears now. She spun around, seeing no one there. “I’m the reason you’re even on Midgard right now, and you have the gall to allow another man to touch you?”_

_“What, why are you asking me this?” she found herself stepping back, seeking to flee the overwhelming urge of dominance roiling from the darkness all around her. This had to be a dream, because she had never felt such undiluted, raw emotion in waking life._

_“I OWN you, lovey, and you dare to forsake my assistance!” The voice slithered into her ears again, freezing her in place. “Do not ever forget that I rescued you from those bastards, lovey, otherwise I just might have to remind you of your place.”_

_“GO AWAY! You’re scaring me.” Came her response. The darkness flickered and slowly morphed to green. The undiluted dominance she felt lessened and transformed into seduction. The flowing green mono-scape whirled around her, cradling from all sides, pressing against her skin._

_“Are you frightened, my little queen?” A figure coalesced from the green-scape. A masculine figure condensed into symmetry as his dark hair whirled into existence, long black locks ending just below his cloaked shoulders. Green eyes bore into hers as the rest of his body slowly formed into something recognizable; dark leather shirt, a wide green sash under a flowing green-lined cape and dark-tan leather pants. The man’s body wasn’t quite lithe enough to be considered bony, but his muscle structure was undoubtedly well-formed and nicely packed. His facial profile was smooth and his smile, sharp and mischievous._

_“My Little Queen.” The mocking voice emitted from his sensuous mouth. “You have forgotten, haven’t you?”_

_“I…don’t remember.” Her lagoon-green eyes were entrapped by his pure green orbs. “Who…who are you?”_

_“My Lovey…you cannot escape me. Submit to me and rescue yourself.” the man lifted a hand to touch her face, drawing a finger along her temple. That contact felt ice-cold, giving an echoing crack, like breaking ice, into the silent green darkness. Jiru could feel her skin changing color, from tan to ice-blue – syncing with the man’s own skin metamorphosis: only his skin-tone went from flesh to dark blue. Whatever he was doing, it felt utterly…primal…natural – and oh so erotic…_


	3. S.H.I.E.L.D.

“NO!” Jiru bolted up to sit, and inhaling air into her lungs like her life depended on it.

“Well, really. I swear I was only thinking it, Sparkles.” To her left, a familiar voice teased her. Looking for the voice’s owner, she saw Tony Stark sitting in a dark green chair, a squat glass in hand, which contained an amber liquid; alcohol no doubt. He smiled at her and gave a wink. “Have a nice nap, Superstar?”

“Well, welcome back to the land of the living, kid.” Another masculine voice added, pulling her attention beyond Stark. A dark-skinned face stared back at her. The man was oblivious a black American (or whatever they called themselves now-a-days), and looked tough as hell: the eye-patch over his left eye only added to the effect. His clothes were dark, like him, and made the statement of mega-bad ass. (The long duster leather jacket only cinched the statement louder; he probably ate rusty nails for breakfast.) He leaned forward to gaze at her as his fingers came together under his chin.

“We were beginning to worry about you, Miss Jiru.” A third voice joined the first two. Again, Jiru looked further her current vision-field to see a new face. The man, Caucasian, dressed sharp as a tack in his black business suit; had a very short brown hairstyle that went beautifully with his blue-brown eyes. He had a rather normal face, but the emotion it held was anything but. His smile was disarming and showed his concern. “You were out for a few hours.”

“Hours?” She subconsciously checked the day’s lighting and found the statement to be true. The light produced longer shadows than what she had arrived to the tower in. It looked to be four or five in the afternoon; which would mean she had been out for five hours. Bringing a hand up to her forehead, she gave it a rub while groaning. “Great…”

“Yea, you were a regular Sleeping Beauty.” A fourth voice interrupted the sharply-dressed agent man.

She turned her face towards the source and coughed twice. The dude, another Caucasian, was muscled enough to be considered hunky. Wearing a black leather-looking sleeveless tunic that matched his rugged, scruffy looking pants, the male figure was busy staring out the wall of windows that gave a panoramic view of the city’s building tops. His reflection showed her a handsome, roguish looking face with sharp black-brown eyes and serious expression; scanning out the glass over the city. The afternoon sun illuminated his profile in such a way that she immediately took a liking to him. She always fell for the sexy looking types: physical attraction at its finest. She would bet her life that he was a rogue.

“Sleeping Beauty, huh?” the cerulean-haired woman gave a small smirk, feeling rather snarky-flirty. “You mean between a hunk like you and Sexy Stark over here, it didn’t occur to you to kiss me awake?”

Stark was holding his amber-liquid filled glass to his mouth when she said this. The billionaire choked twice before spraying his drink all over the low table before him. The suited man blinked and allowed his brows to raise a fraction of an inch, looking at her with un-phased eyes. Eye-patchy was holding his face in his hands, shaking his head in annoyance while the fourth male spun around, glaring incredulously at her statement.

“What the hell?” the dark-eyed man sputtered, at a loss for words. Jiru smiled at him and spoke on.

“What’s the matter, Birdie? Cat got your tongue?” She quipped back, suddenly feeling rather stupid to put herself as the focused attention. “I don’t know your name, but I have a huge urge to call you Birdie.”

“Well, f*ck me ten ways till Sunday; Fury. You absolutely CANNOT have her now.” Tony continued to cough, trying to clear the sudden intake of scotch in the wrong pipe. “You, my dear Superstar, have just made my day. Hell, you’ve made my entire week.” He lightly pounded on his upper chest in attempts to assist with the clearance of liquid. Stark looked at her full in the eyes. “I’m keeping you, Sparkles, if you’re going to throw snarky comments around like that.”

“What? It’s the truth Tony; Birdie is really hot-looking right now. He’s…got no sleeves on.” Jiru continued to speak before thinking, feeling the stupid catching up to her. “Oh geez, I’m such a dumb-ass…I’ll just shut up now.” She tore her eyes away from the four men and planted her face in her up-curled knees, feeling her cheeks flare up like a torch. It was then she calculated just where she was: a dark green couch, six feet long, held her sitting frame; a red blanket covering her lower torso. Her body felt muzzy, like she had been sleeping too long against her internal bio-clock. Inhaling deeply, she took a more thorough evaluation of her surroundings.

The penthouse level was long, spacious and very elite; dark granite floors, expensive furniture – six dark-olive colored chairs, a dark green long-couch (the one she was one) and an oak three-by-six foot low drink table centered in the pool of goldenrod pebbles. On the other side of the room was a decorous bar, most likely supplied to the tooth with drinks. She couldn’t figure out what area was held on her right, since a wall stood between her and her vision. The place still had signs of being constructed and a white tarp peeked out from behind the wall.

“I’m adamant on that, Fury, you can’t have her.” Tony was now addressing the annoyed black-man. “So you can just leave with that paperwork I know you’ve brought and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“Stark…shut-up.” Fury lifted his head to glare at the billionaire. “One more fancy word from either one of your mouths, Stark…Miss…I’ll have both of you incarcerated for insubordination.”

“Sorry…” Jiru squeaked, feeling the blood heat in her face. “I’ll shut up now, Mr. Fury.”

“It’s Director Fury to you, kid.” He corrected her.

“Sir…” The quiet agent-looking man finally spoke up.

“Yes, Agent Coulson…”

“It’s true then?” The man, now identified as Coulson, asked further. “That Miss Jiru has…”

“Yes, Agent Coulson, she has returned to grace us with her presence, and therefore, we are here to remind her of the restrictions on her…powers.”

“Restrictions?” Tony had fully recovered now and quirked a brow at Fury. “You mean to tell me she’s dangerous enough to be put on ‘restrictions’? What powers?!”

“See for yourself, Stark…” Fury sighed, removing a large manila folder from within his deceivingly tight overcoat. He then tossed it on the drink table. The folder was stamped with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo in blatantly red ink. Papers spilled out of the folder, incurring Tony to lean forward to peruse the interesting words. The man she nicknamed Birdie was curious enough to bring himself over to the group. The buff-looking guy gave her a small berth and remained standing, looking down at the splayed files. The Man of Iron finally gave in and reached forward to scoop up a handful of those files, bringing them closer to read.

“This young lady here was the cause of the Great Blackout back in the mid-60’s. S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to pick her up, along with what caused the Black Out, but apparently she didn’t like the way we ‘conducted’ our handling of herself. We ended up discovering she wasn’t a local. She ended up flash-freezing one of our first facilities because we were none too friendly with our ‘biological interviews’.” Fury spoke on. “I am not at liberty to discuss the details of her DNA, it’s written in those files; but it was confirmed that she did vanish from existence, leaving behind the thing that caused the blackout; which is also classified.”

“Damn, Sparkles, just how old are ya?” Tony asked half-heartedly, once again picking up his drink.

“Thirty.” She answered, feeling another blush rising up her neck. “I swear.”

“Hm-hm.” Tony hummed, and continued to read, shuffling through the papers with growing avid interest. He must have been reading on the unspoken details of her time with S.H.I.E.L.D. back in the 60’s.  
Everything must have been in there, including how she was classified as an alien threat because of her energy-manipulation powers and her unique DNA: a three-lined helix; which was one more strand than normal a human DNA. Her prior experience with S.H.I.E.L.D. was jaded and sour. Jiru sighed, shaking away the awful thoughts before they invaded her mind and lifted her head as she felt the attention shift away from her.

“Miss Jiru.” Looking up to meet Coulson’s dark eyes, she was surprised to find him sitting on the couch near her feet. He was looking at her with open eyes and a tilted head.

“May…I help you?” She asked, hesitantly; not yet trusting the man’s close proximity. To her, he was a stranger and made her uncomfortable. It was her norm to be socially uncomfortable around strangers.

“I’m so glad to finally meet you, Miss Jiru.” The now-interested agent smiled kindly to her and offered his hand to shake. “I know your first experience with S.H.I.E.L.D. was a negative thing, but I hope your second time is much better. My name is Phil Coulson, and I proudly serve S.H.I.E.L.D. as an agent. The other agent is Clint Barton, and he too, works for S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“Hi, I guess.” She offered a returning tiny smile and placed her hand in his, allowing him to shake her hand. She turned her eyes to Birdie/Clint and gave an embarrassed smile.

“I know it’s very difficult to be alone like you have, but if it’s possible, I’d like to be a friend.” Coulson continued to offer soothing words to the cerulean-haired woman. She removed her hand from his as what he said slowly processed in her mind. Coulson was verbally disarming enough for her to not feel threatened; or fire-engine red embarrassed.

“I…would very much like to have a friend, Mr. Coulson.” Jiru said after a few moments of thought. “I’m guessing you know I’m-”

“From another dimension, yes.” The brown-haired agent nodded. “I’ve read your files extensively; every word of your interview and history. I disagree how S.H.I.E.L.D. interrogated you for that information, but I promise you that I will not let anyone do that to you again.”

“That’s a steep promise to give, Mr. Coulson.” Jiru tilted her head and focused on the man. Was it just her, or did these people have a skill that allowed them to psychoanalyze her with just a look.

“Please, call me Phil.” He offered.

“Okay. Phil. I…you’re not here to try and dissect me…again?”

“Of course not, Director Fury here just wanted to check to see if it was really you producing the odd energy readings.” The agent shook his head.

“Oh.”

“Agent Coulson, if you are done introducing yourself to the young lady, then I would like a word with her.” Fury’s even-toned voice cut into their conversation. Jiru turned her gaze towards the director.

“Fury, I am dead set on keeping her.” Tony Stark interrupted them and held out a set of three papers. “Sparkles, why didn’t you tell me you had an internalized power source?!” the billionaire turned to her and quirked a brow.

“A what?”

“Your power source, babe, I wanna see it.” Stark pressed further, gesturing with both his eyes and hands. “It says here your powers come from an adamant-organic source…diamonds. How in the hell did you manage that!”

“I…” Jiru stumbled over words; hands curling up over her sternum, in which the diamond was ‘stored’ in its pocket of power. How would she even begin to explain? How much would they accept, or even believe?

“Yes, about that Stark, not one bloody word of it leaves this room.” Fury ordered as he leaned back into his chair. “Her…power source is like your Arc Reactor – revolutionary – and extremely powerful. Unlike you, she doesn’t have a personal protection suit.”

“Tell me about it.” Tony smiled, dazzling her. Standing up and moving over to the cerulean haired woman, he tossed back the rest of his drink and motioned for her to stand up. “No, seriously, tell me about it.”

“Well…I…” Jiru gave up fighting her red-faced condition and looked away from those laser focused eyes, not standing up. To trust or not to trust? “Diamond…yes, well-.”

“Yea, just how does she get her powers from…” Here, finally, Clint Barton spoke up. “…a diamond, Fury?”

“Ask her, hell if I know.” The director answered. “It’s all magic and cooking science to me.”

“Well, princess?” Clint turned his hawk-eyes on her, his overwhelming curiosity evident on his face.

“I…don’t know.” Jiru squirmed under the four’s scrutiny. “I…doubt…you’d believe it?”

“Oh come now, Supernova, you can tell your Tony now, can’t you?” Stark shooed Agent Coulson away from her. The sexy genius plopped down next to the shy woman and clonked his scotch glass down on the table. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

“Stark…” Fury groaned again at the sexually-loaded statement. “I hardly think that is going to help the situation.”

“Tut-tut.” Stark brushed off Fury’s comment and turned back to the woman next to him. “Ignore them, Superstar. Tell me at least where you’ve hidden this powerful diamond of yours.”

“I’m not sure-” She began saying. The source of her power was what led to this whole dimensional ruckus in the first place.

Tony shook his head and reached up to his shirt, unbuttoning and holding it apart to reveal the glowing-blue circle set into his upper chest. The Arc Reactor glowed a steady blue – its small illumination soft like a dim LED light. The edges of the round device were lost almost in the blue glow. The triangular hole in the middle was the brightest.

“God, Stark, you’d do anything to get her into bed, wouldn’t you.” Barton growled out and dropped his face into his own hands. “You are such a bastard.”

“I…” Jiru was now completely red in the face as Tony sat there, giving her a full dose of his masculine chest. Her eyes were glued on that chest, and its glowing arc reactor. “Wow.”

“Isn’t it fantastic? I know you love things that glow, Sparkles, so I want to know all about yours.” Tony gave her a freaky-lusty look, like she was going to be his new toy.

“I…” Her eyes focused on the glowing Arc light.

“Oh that is just disturbing, she’s actually zoning out over your chest, Stark.” Barton snarled and bolted up from his chair, moving back to his position by the window-wall.

“Ok…try talking to me with your eyes up here, Superstar.” Tony placed his hands on either side of her face and gently guided her face away from his chest. “Tell me about your diamond.”

“My diamond…” Her mind was torn away from its social defenses and numb from the overdose of man-chest. The mind-numbness actually helped her to speak her story.

“Back…in my original dimension, there was…war. In space. Well, this place has Star Trek right? It’s like that. I was on a star-ship traveling around when we came across…the things we were fighting against. I made stupid choices, because I had no experience with war. I was overconfident in the diamond’s power and I screwed up the battle. Got several of my friends killed and shattered the diamond. It’s scattered across who knows all of creation and I have to find the shards to reconstruct it. That’s why I’m a dimensional-walker…I’m lost and can’t find my way home again without the whole diamond.”

“Very interesting, go on…” Stark sat still, his hands remaining on her face to keep her focused. “So you go around searching for these diamond shards…”

“Yea, I’ve been following them for years now – years of my original dimension.” Jiru’s brain caught up with her thoughts and her eyes unglazed over as she focused on what she was saying. “I followed a shard’s energy pull to this dimension…this planet, but S.H.I.E.L.D. got to it first and didn’t give it back when I asked for it.”

“I see.” The now-serious billionaire dropped his hands and gave a quick, harsh glance to Fury. “So that’s why you busted up the facility back in the 60’s and ran?”

“No…you see…I kind of…died.” Jiru lowered her voice; the pain of speaking the truth caused her throat to tighten as the memories; once vague and hazy, came rushing back.


	4. Power Source

“I don’t believe you, Superstar.” Tony leaned back and gave her an odd look, the seriousness of his face vanishing as his many facial neutral masks slid into place. “In fact, I am going to ignore your answer.”

“What?” She looked confused, still mentally reeling from telling her story.

“I don’t believe you died, Sparkles. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here right now.” He stood up and grabbed his glass from the table. “That is, unless you are a zombie; and I highly doubt that, because I have such a hard-on for you at the moment, and I don’t do dead chicks.”

“Stark, I doubt this is going to help the situation.” Fury cut in.

“The fuck if I care.” Stark stalked over to the other side of the room, directly towards the bar and helped himself to the wide array of drinks housed there. Then, turning around to stare at the trio sitting in the furniture across the room, the billionaire spoke on. “You have the gall to bring this lovely young woman to my attention, and then push her into confessing a rather painful past – which your precious S.H.I.E.L.D. was responsible for – and finally, expect me to believe a word she says about her dying?”

“What the hell is wrong with you, Stark?” Fury now was on his feet, striding over to the billionaire casually leaning against the bar. “You read her files; you know how much of a threat she is. Hell, Stark, she flash-FROZE a whole facility, which was well over one hundred and forty-five fucking acres. In the desert.”

“I’m sure she had good reason.” Tony quipped. If anyone who knew Stark, they knew the man was furious inside, fuming over several different angles of several different issues at the same time. Something about Fury attacking the cerulean-haired woman was making Tony angry.

“Damn it Stark, we need to bring her in and-” Fury started.

“Take her in and what? Dissect her like a high-school biology frog? Put her in a deep dark cage far below ground so her ‘powers’ aren’t threatening enough? After promising not to?” Tony’s voice upped a notch. 

“Excuse me if I seem hesitant to let THAT happen. S.H.I.E.L.D. seems fond of doing that to people beyond their control.”

“She’s got all this power, Stark, and nothing is going to stop her from using it.” Fury’s voice also rose, as the argument between the two men heated up. “I’ll be damned if I let a threat like her move around unchecked.”

“Uh, yea; but no.” Tony said again; verbally denying the director’s words.

Across the penthouse room, Jiru finally removed the red blanket from her lower torso and sliding her feet off the couch and onto the floor. She had been thrown off by both Stark’s apathetic/defensive reaction and Fury’s comments on how much he didn’t trusted her and her powers. It hurt. It was all so confusing to organize her thoughts while the two men were arguing whether or not to lock her away like some super-powered freak. She should be used to the distrust the locals gave her when they found out what she was; but here, on a planet where she had been before, receiving distrust again hit closer to home.

“Miss Jiru?” Agent Coulson was back at her side, at her elbow. “Are you ok?”

“Yea, no, I’m fine. I’m just feeling…overwhelmed, anxious.”

“Why?” Coulson was honestly confused.

“This is the first time I’ve returned to the same dimension – the same planet – like this, so I don’t know what to think. Now I’m not even sure of how I left and came back here in the first place. The diamond, it’s like a symbiotic life-form, doesn’t really let me ‘die’. It just places me in stasis. I have a very difficult time trusting people with my secrets. Life has a funny way of coveting my power.” She tapped her sternum.

“Oh.”

“Well, you’re here now, princess, so don’t screw anything up like – say – reality.” Clint fired his barbed comment at her. He too, had finished reading her files, and was impressed and more than slightly fearful. This girl had way too much power at her disposal. The symbiotic diamond granted her access to energy that possibly came from supernovas. Who knew how far advanced her mind was with raw-star-power.

“What the hell is your problem?” Jiru shot to her feet and faced the second agent. Clint shot to his feet and backed away slowly, holding his hands up to show he was unarmed.

“What is your problem?” She hissed between her teeth, masking her rising anxiety with bravado. “You weren’t scared of me before reading those papers, Birdie.”

“To be absolutely honest: you, kid. You’re special enough without access to raw star energy.” Fury pulled away from his argument with Tony and faced her. “I hate the fact that you are blatantly unaware of just how big a mess you’ve made for me to clean up. You’re like a spoiled child playing with bombs.”

“A mess?” Jiru blinked, feeling her anger deflate fast.

“Say what?” Tony mimicked her and stood away from the counter. “When did she manage to make a mess big enough for S.H.I.E.L.D. to step in and fix?”

“The moment she re-arrived on this planet, Stark.” Fury snapped over his shoulder. The S.H.I.E.L.D. director stalked across the room and came to a stop in front of the woman. “We weren’t expecting you to return, kid – dead or alive. And since you HAVE returned, this creates me a problem.”

“I….didn’t have a choice in coming back.” Jiru was intimidated by the overbearing director and his angry body language. She stepped back and averted her eyes. “This dimension has a shard and it pulled me back here.”

“Of course it did.” the one-eyed bad-ass man looked down at her. “It’s a good thing S.H.I.E.L.D. knew how to close the little dimensional rift you left in Canada.”

“Dimensional rift?” Her eyes turned back up to Fury, rather surprised to hear him talk about dimensional rifts.

“Yes, dimensional rifts, kid. It took S.H.I.E.L.D. eight years to close your previous two. Stark is right, you didn’t die – you just side-stepped into another reality: which makes me consider you a high-class threat/risk.”

“Fury, you step away from her right now.” Tony was right behind Fury and stepped in to save the damsel he viewed as being very distressed. “I’m going to press harassment charges if you don’t stop messing with my stuff.”

“Stark, I’m somehow not threatened by your useless lawsuits.” Fury retorted, before speaking to her again.   
“Yet, we still have a world-class problem to address, kid.”

“Well, explain it to me then, Patchy, because I as hell DON’T see her as a problem.” Stark snarled back. 

“Not at all THAT kind of problem…”

“Is it…because I came back…” Jiru slowly spoke up the moment a silent pause came. “Because of the starburst diamond…and I can side-step planes of reality?”

“Yes, that’s half the problem, kid.” Fury sighed in aggravation, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “You’ve got access to way too much power for me to let you run around unchecked. The other half is the fact you’re here again. S.H.I.E.L.D. was created to protect Earth from external threats. If you aren’t the only one who can ‘side-step’ realities, then we have a problem.”

“Damn it, Director Fury, I didn’t choose to become lost in the dimensional muck, OR have my power source shattered like glass. But it happened and not only do I have to DEAL the fuck with the fact I’m lost, I have to continuously fight people like your power-hungry S.H.I.E.L.D. posse to reclaim what is rightfully mine!”

“Yea – about that, Superstar, I’m still curious about that diamond.” Tony cut it, bringing his arms up to hold his chin while he thought; his eyes staring at her steadily. “You say your diamond is…was…is in pieces, maybe I can help you fix it.”

“What?” Jiru asked, turning to Stark. “You, fix something like a starburst diamond?”

“Well, yea, I am Tony Stark after all.” He smiled again.

The topmost level of Stark Tower was quiet for a few minutes as everyone within the penthouse room whirled in their own thoughts. Clint Barton was stalking along the wall of windows, his fingers twitching with the urge to curl around his archery set. Director Fury was standing rigid, still looking at the cerulean-haired woman fiercely. Tony was studying at her with avid interest, the gears inside his head turning at insane speeds. Agent Coulson was still standing next to her, arms at rest but mind sharp and analyzing. None of the men were full-tilt tense, but Fury and Barton had triggers ready if the she made any threatening moves.

“I’ll take that offer, Tony. You can study the diamond fragments I have.” Jiru broke the silence after mentally making her decision. “But I don’t expect you to fix it, since who knows how many more shards I have to collect.”

“Fantastic.” His face lit up once again as he dropped his arms, stepping towards her. Stark’s dazzling smile made her knees nearly buckle as she reached up to her chest. “J.A.R.V.I.S., start a biological scan of a female specimen, height, five foot.”

~Yes Sir.~ The A.I. voice came from all around the room. Jiru squeaked as a blue line scanned her body.

“Without the fragment in me, Fury, I won’t really have any powers to freeze anything or ‘side-step’ reality.” Her hand paused over the middle of her chest; watching the blue light run over her face, then down her body. Just how was he able to scan her without anything visible moving? Technology was great here.

“How very interesting, kid.” The director relaxed ever so slightly. “What powers WOULD you be stuck with if you gave up your source?”

“I…don’t know.”

“You don’t know.” His voice mimicked her statement, only with more depth, as if he disliked her answer. “You mean to tell me you don’t know what powers will or will not remain with you if you give up your diamond.”

“Yea, got a problem with that?” She snarked back. “I really hate your mister high-mighty hoity-toity attitude right now, Patchy. Stop calling me kid.” Here, Tony Stark’s hand flew up to cover his smiling mouth to keep himself from breaking out into laughter. “Shut up Stark; this is the first freaking time I’ve ever voluntarily handed over my talisman.”

“Indeed.” Fury turned away from her and moved over to the table, shoving the spread files of her folder back into its container. “We will need to document any and all powers you are able to use; with and/or without the diamond.”

“Superstar, the diamond…” Tony coughed into his hand.

“Whatever.” Jiru rolled her eyes and pressed her five fingers against her lower sternum, muttering a foreign language. Her eyes closed she felt the bottom of her sternum twitch and move; allowing the hidden substance to remove itself and move upward towards her mouth. Then, with a gagging hack, Jiru expelled her diamond fragment into her hand.

The jewel was the size of a quarter, and glittering in the afternoon light, the gem’s fire was absolutely brilliant. It had to be the most perfectly cut diamond any of the men had ever seen; except the fact it looked only one-fourth complete; like someone had cut it into fourths; leaving the edges jagged.

“Holy shit, that was disgusting.” Clint coughed suddenly. “I’m not going to be terrified of some chick who makes herself vomit diamonds.”

“Uhm, here, Superstar, why don’t you wipe that off with…” Tony looked rather flustered as he searched for something to hold the diamond fragment in.

“Shit, kid…” Fury slapped his face in annoyance. “I really don’t understand why we consider you a threat; you are completely random.”

“Here, I have something, Miss Jiru.” Coulson jumped to the rescue and pulled out a piece of cloth from his pant pocket, presumably a handkerchief.

“Thanks, P.C.” Jiru turned around and accepted the cloth from the agent. “Wow, you’re really prepared.”

“I do try, Miss Jiru.” He answered her. “I would prefer you not to ever try that stunt again. It was most disturbing.”

“I’ll try not to, P.C.” She looked abashed. “I didn’t mean to gross everyone out.” Her hands placed the diamond fragment on the cloth and looked down at it.

“Superstar, why don’t you go wash that off…” Stark hinted rather casually. “Then we can see what makes it tick.”

“Ok, fine.”

“You know this doesn’t quite get you off the hook, Miss Jiru.” Fury had cleaned up the papery mess that was her folder off the table and turned to her and Tony. “I’m still sticking with my original plan.”

“Yea?” Tony scowled at the black man. “She’s not joining your super-secret boy band either.”

“As a matter of fact, Stark; she has no choice.” Fury stated evenly. “As of today, Miss Jiru, you work for S.H.I.E.L.D. Since Stark has been so kind to take you under his wing, it’ll be up to him to outfit you in something that can help moderate the powers you get from your…diamond.”

Jiru was walking towards the bar sink to clean her diamond fragment when Fury announced this. The dimensional woman stopped in her tracks and looked directly at him, her mouth parted in astonishment.

“Agent Coulson will be on hand to help you through any informational gaps you may have. There are huge cultural differences from the mid-60’s Miss Jiru, I expect you to learn and adhere to them.” Fury continued speaking as he signaled to both agents before walking towards the elevator of the penthouse level. “You will be staying in the apartment flat Mr. Stark has already set up you in and will report to Agent Coulson every evening on your progress. Any questions?”

“Uh, yea, Patchy.” Tony jumped in. “I have tons of questions; such as: WHY ME!?”

“Forget it, Stark, you are NOT allowed to brush this off. She WILL be assigned anywhere I want her to be. It just so happens you’ve kindly given me the perfect opportunity to get her set up and started. I know you’re ever so ready to delve into her schematics, and I’m absolutely sure you’ll have the best f*cking time of your life analyzing her energy-source.”

Fury, Coulson and Barton all moved into the downward going elevator. “Good luck to you Stark, try not to mess this up.”

“FURY WAIT!” Tony whined.

“And Miss Jiru…welcome back to Earth.” Fury gave the woman a polite smile just as the elevator doors closed.


	5. Birds of a Feather

Stark’s rented apartment: room 1313

“Rise and shine, Chirpy.” A man’s voice cut deep into her R.E.M. sleep, causing her to flinch like a zapped fish. The level of light her closed eyes registered increased; like somebody had thrown open the blinds on the windows.

“Hhmmmm…” Jiru grumbled, and flopped over to the other side of plush king-sized bed.

“Princess…” the masculine voice called to her again. “Don’t make me come and get you out of that bed myself; there will be consequences if I do.”

The male voice wasn’t that of Tony’s, which she hadn’t heard in five days due to who knew what he was doing. So when her sleep-addled brain registered that she didn’t recognize the voice, she did her best to spring into action and reach for the emergency phone Tony had set her up with. The genius had given her the latest Stark-Phone tech, which was not only super-secret high-technology, but still in its development stages.

“Ah, ah, Princess. I’ve taken precautions and disabled Lover-Boy’s security.” The voice came again and she felt a firm hand enclose her wrist. “Which was fairly easy to do.”

“What?” Jiru mumbled as the hand’s owner drew her bodily back to the other side of the bed, pinning her on her back. She inhaled to scream, but the man’s wits were faster than hers and had his other hand over her mouth.

“Don’t scream, Chirpy, it’ll be easier if you don’t.”

Jiru stopped struggling long enough to open her eyes to register a familiar face over hers. Clint Barton’s handsome profile was gazing down at her, a small smirk playing across his lips. Her own startled profile flickered from terrified to confused to angry to confused. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was looking down at her, waiting for something.

“No screaming, ok Sparrows?” Clint half-commanded her. “I swear I’m not going to hurt you.” He removed his hands from her wrist and mouth.

“Whu are you doing here, Birdie?” She muttered; sitting up on her elbows, and immediately falling back onto her pillow. “Pleeease tell me you aren’t…”

“Straddling your ass.” Clint’s smile grew bigger, teasing her. “What’s wrong princess; got a problem? I thought you had a crush on me.”

“HHmmm…” Jiru tried to muffle her moan of surprise as he shifted his weight; pushing something very naughty against her stomach. “St-op.”

“What was that, Chirpy?”

“Please…stop doing that…” She hissed out of clenched teeth. Her arousal was clearly evident on her face.

“Doing what?” He leaned in closer to her face and gave her another sly smile, knowing the effect he was giving her. The archer’s rather heavy frame moved again, this time bearing down on her lower abdomen. Fire raced across her nerves; making her gasp.

“St-stop it…”

“Say it, princess.” Clint purred into her ear, he had leaned down that far. “If you say it, then I just might stop.”

“Why should I?” She opened her eyes and gazed up at the archer, trying to push him off of her.

“Wait.” Clint stopped and cocked his head to the side, as if he was listening – straining to hear – some soft noise. “You hear that?”

“What?” She froze her struggles and felt her confusion grow. “Hear what?” she whispered.

“It sounded like…” the agent said slowly, looking her in the eyes. “THIS!”

The archer had silently brought his hand down to her side and proceeded to poke it. The reaction was instantaneous. Jiru grunted, then squealed; throwing her body away from Clint’s prodding fingers.

“Aha! I knew Chirpy had a weakness.” Barton chuckled as his other hand left her wrist. “It is good to know.”

“What the fuck is your problem, Birdie!” the cerulean-haired woman hissed at the archer sitting on her. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Clint prodded her in the side again; making her grunt again and twist in the bed to escape from his fingers.

“NO, Stop!” Jiru gasped/growled as Clint slid off the bed, allowing her to finally sit up. “I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Well, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Hawkeye chuckled as he prowled about the room.

“Yea?” She bit back a yawn. “What the crap are you doing here?” She rubbed her lagoon eyes and looked over to the green-digit alarm clock. “It’s six A.M.”

“So?”

“On a Saturday, you moron.”

“I’d figure I’d get an early start to your new mission.” Barton shrugged his muscular shoulders. This earned him a glare from lagoon eyes. Jiru finally got a better look at her tormentor. Clint’s grey polo shirt well loosely on his frame and the jean pants covering his legs appeared to be nice enough to scream high-end.

“Mission? What are you talking about?”

“I want to get to know you a little better, Chirpy.” The archer answered her as he circled the bed. “Today is my day off, and I thought I’d come over and give you your first mission.”

Jiru watched as the sly S.H.I.E.L.D. agent circled her bed; getting closer to her. Her sleepy brain was still waking up, so therefore, her tongue was far from its normal sharpness. Looking around the large apartment bedroom, she figured the sun was just now sitting on the unseen horizon; covering the tallest city buildings with light.

“So…” Clint drawled out. “What’s with the hair?” He had completed his circuit around the room and now stood in front of her. His hand reached up to snag a lock of unnaturally colored hair and lifted it up so it would catch the room’s overhead lights. “I mean…it…sparkles?”

“My hair…” She responded, yawning again and moving to the edge of the overly large bed. “I don’t know how my hair is like this, it just – changed when I got here.”

“Here, you mean on Earth?” His eyes turned from teasing to curious, and he sat down next to the woman. His close proximity gave her a scent of oiled leather, metal and New York smog.

“Yea, Earth.” She answered and then placed her face in her hands. Moments ticked by without a word. They both remained sitting on the green-colored covers.

“Chirpy?” Barton coughed. The archer shifted to lean closer to her.

“What!?” She tossed her head up and looked at him; then hid her face again.

“Are…are you crying?”

“No…”

“I think you are, Chirpy.” The archer spun off the bed’s edge and into a squatting sit in front of her. The archer wasn’t completely without a heart, and reached up to grasp her hands. “What’s wrong, Princess?”

“Everything. I’m…overstressed at the moment…”

“No kidding.” He sighed. “Care to expand?”

“Well, I feel lost without my…the diamond. This…large city scares the living-crap out of me. I don’t do well with so many…people; I’m paranoid that I’m going to get mugged or worse. This city is too loud for me to even sleep in. I haven’t had a decent sleep in a week and I’m running on empty. Then you frigging show up and turn me on…”

“Wow.” Clint exhaled. “Just wow.”

“What?” Jiru looked down at him, her wet eyes showing him the truth with the physical signs of sleep-loss. “It’s true.”

“You do have issues, Chirpy.” The dark-eyed agent smirked up at her, reaching up to brush away the dampness under her eyes. “Tell you what, princess, why don’t you go get cleaned up for the day; I’ll get you some coffee or tea and food and then we can go paint the town red. It’ll help make you forget your worries.”

“What?” the cerulean-haired woman gave Barton a curious look.

“Oh, I’ll show you around the city, and you won’t have to be so nervous because I’ll be there.” Clint gave another bright smile as he lifted his left hand. “Plus…I have Stark’s credit card.” With a flick of his fingers, a credit card appeared out of nowhere, like a magician’s trick. “We can shop till we drop, hit the spa, or whatever else you want to do.”

“No…frigging way…” She blinked, reading the name on the plastic blue card, a smile twitching her lips.

“Yes way.”

“I’m there!” Jiru sniffled and stood up. “Let’s go buy things!”

“That’s the spirit, Chirpy.” Clint shot to his own feet and patted the woman on her back as she smiled. “Stark’ll never know what happened.”

~~~

S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier:

“Director Fury.” A nameless S.H.I.E.L.D. agent knocked on the door and slowly opened it. “There is a call on the Council’s line. They want to speak to you.”

“When do they NOT want to speak to me.” Fury turned in his overpriced plush office chair. The look on his face gave the agent reason to pause before answering.

“Is…that a question, Sir?”

“No, Agent, that was NOT a question.” Fury groaned as he placed the mug of coffee on the desk before standing up. “Now go elsewhere, Agent Triston.”

“Yes Sir!”  
Fury sighed once more before walking out of his office and into the communications room. The five glowing screens reflected off his face as Fury flicked on the switch.

“This is Director Fury.”

“Director Fury…” an electronic feminine voice finally spoke. “So nice of you to join us.” 

“I’m sure. Let’s cut to the chase…what is it this time?”

“We have recently heard rumors…” A councilman started.

“Oh? What rumors would be interesting enough to gain the attention of the Council?” Fury was standing at attention, his hands clasped behind his back.

“There have been rumors of new sightings of Project X.I.N.” A third voice agreed.

“Project X.I.N.?” Fury had the ability to look confused and let it show on his face. The man had a damn fantastic poker face. “Wasn’t that a highly top-secret project that was shut down back in the mid-60’s? Stands for: Extra-terrestrial Intelligence Network?”

“Yes, Director, we know.” A forth voice clipped out. “We have reports of Project X.I.N. sightings in New York.”

“With all due respect, Councilman.” Fury sighed and already knew what he was going to say. “If there had been sightings of Project X.I.N., wouldn’t the subject be beyond the age of threat or use? Furthermore, I understand your concerns, but if the information you are telling me is based on nothing but rumors, then I would look rather silly for rushing into a situation like that. Without solid evidence, I really can’t do anything about just rumors.”

“Director Fury, we understand that.” The first voice growled over the scrambled vocals. “WE just want to reiterate the fact that Project X.I.N. is highly dangerous and highly useful. We need her neutralized if spotted.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Fury nodded slightly, reading between the lines. “If solid evidence does come to my attention, then I assure you, I will make it my top priority to neutralize the subject.”

“Be sure that you do that, Director Fury. Project X.I.N. can be a valuable asset if brought to heel properly.” A fifth electronic voice joined the conversation.

“You’ll be the first ones I will notify if ANY solid evidence appears pertaining to Project X.I.N., Councilmen. Have a nice day.” Fury clicked off, and brought a hand to his face. Project X.I.N. was something he did not want to come to light again, especially since she was back again. Then again, if Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. could once again tap into the unlimited power of Project X.I.N., then it would revolutionize energy usage.  
However, success would come at the expense of a single life. Fury felt that the expense of such a project was unacceptable this time, and made his decision to sweep this under the rug. The young woman was far from the threat S.H.I.E.L.D. had first labeled her to be. The Director knew that now; as long as nothing threatened her sense of security or life, then Project X.I.N. would be just a normal human. But her power had such potential for use…

“Damn it.” Fury cursed to himself, reaching into his pocket for the phone, making a decision. He might as well get his plan started, and ask her nicely. Director Fury might as well utilize the resources he had; otherwise S.H.I.E.L.D. would waste thousands of tax dollars on using second-rate materials – so much for forgetting about Project X.I.N..

“Hello, Agent Coulson…I have a new mission for you…” Fury spoke low into the phone.


	6. Flock Together

Apartment 1313: Late evening

Tony Stark let himself into the penthouse apartment, expecting to see a specific somebody. The room was empty, causing the billionaire genius to frown. She was not there.

“Superstar?” He called out and received no answer. “Hm.”

Clearing his throat once, Tony stepped further into the female’s abode. It had been five days since he last talked to his second favorite female in the world, and was craving to spend some time with her. It didn’t help that his most recent pet-project had to pertain to her, thus his mind was full of her and her unique powers. The billionaire had been given a new toy and had run rampant with it. The diamond fragment she had given him a week ago had filled his genius brain with ideas – all revolving around the limitless power source. Like his Arc Reactor, the diamond fragment was a revolutionary advance for human kind; because it harnessed the raw, potent energy of stars. It was a shame it wasn’t available for public use – never would be; it was one of a kind, a singular miracle – something hovering just beyond his comprehension.

Moving his eyes around the apartment room he had set the younger female up in, the billionaire was slightly surprised to see the materialistic personality of the cerulean-haired woman. Her furniture consisted of a modern, pale purple, smooth-lined couch; with a matching set of three oval-shaped sitting chairs; all white and cerulean in color. The coffee table was black with a crystal-glass sheet as the top. A small book shelf was against one wall, and it was filled a several science fiction books and a few fantasy-genres. The poster above the shelf was a full-color spread of none other than Iron Man. The shelf top held at least ten or more magazines – all portraying himself: Tony Stark or the suit of metal, Iron Man.

“Well, Supernova, it looks like somebody has a huge crush.” He chuckled to himself as he picked up a magazine, looking briefly at his own picture. Moving into the modern and sleek kitchen, Tony smiled more as he counted seven different plastic cups – all of them Iron Man themed. They looked out of place against the brushed chrome appliances and sophisticated counter tops. “A really huge crush.”

Looking around more, and being generally nosy, the billionaire spotted the seriously high-tech laptop computer on the table he had given her. “Let’s see just how bad you’ve got it, babe.”

Booting up the computer, he paused a moment, looking at the password-asking screen. Well, if she was anything like the smart cookie Tony knew her to be, her password would NOT be something so obvious as Iron Man or T-Stark: the code would be something totally random or made-up.

“J.A.R.V.I.S..” Tony said aloud.

~Yes, Sir?~ The A.I. voice responded.

“Ah, good, you’re in the system.”

~Why wouldn’t I be, Sir? You did upload me into this location.~ The masculine-A.I. voice informed Tony. ~Which, by the way, has me concerned about the practicality of doing so. The Miss of the apartment has no knowledge of me here.~

“Huh, you mean she hasn’t figured it out yet?”

~No Sir. The Miss has not called for me once.~

“Doesn’t matter. I need the password for her computer, J.A.R.V.I.S..”

~Sir, I can’t do that.~

“Oh? J.A.R.V.I.S., are you being belligerent?” Tony smirked to himself. He did indeed make J.A.R.V.I.S. above and beyond any other A.I. systems in the world; of course the program was going to be a smart cookie.

~No, Sir. I was merely suggesting that you should try to be more patient with other people’s privacy.~ The A.I. system spoke evenly. ~I would not be a very good security system if I gave such-~

“Yea, well I want her password to get into her systems so I can see just what she has been up to.” Tony cut J.A.R.V.I.S. off, sighed, then moved his fingers over the laptop’s keyboard and punched in enough of a digital command to bypass the power-on password. “Keep up the good work, J.A.R.V.I.S..”

~Thank you, Sir.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. answered.

“Tell me J.A.R.V.I.S., how has she been the past five days?”

~She has been in excellent health, Sir. The Miss’s eating style is superb and exercise regimen is mediocre. She eats healthier than you, Sir.~

“Fantastic.” The genius smiled to himself as he browsed the viewing history of the laptop. It was mostly digital articles on Iron Man and himself and his industries. Other websites included gaming platforms such as MMRG Pokémon and Fortnite. Very interesting, it looked like his Superstar was adjusting to this planet like a native. She was keeping up with her research and staying updated with local, national and world-wide news. Tony was slightly impressed with her finesse to be knowledgeable.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., where is she now?” Tony diverted his attention away from her computer and leaned back into the posh, modern-stylized black curvy chair.

~Sir, I don’t think she…~

“J.A.R.V.I.S., I know she wouldn’t like me tracking her by the GPS chip I inserted into her phone when I first ran bio-checks on her…just answer the question.” Tony ordered his A.I. system. “Pull it up on a map.”

~Of course Sir.~

“That won’t be necessary, Mr. Stark.” A new voice interrupted Tony’s thoughts. Blues eyes looked up into brown ones. The black-suited Phil Coulson was standing in the kitchen’s entrance.

“Hey, Coulson, how are ya?” Tony nodded plainly from the sleek metallic table. “What’s with the ‘I’m-here-to-work’ look?”

“Doing good, Stark, how are you?” the sharply dressed S.H.I.E.L.D. agent nodded politely to the billionaire. “I am here to get Miss Jiru’s daily report.”

“Eh, is that so?” Stark answered, standing up. It was a posturing thing. A moment of silence drifted between the two men. “So, just how much of a spark is she in bed, Coulson?” Tony briskly walked over to the penthouse refrigerator and opened it to be severely disappointed. His Superstar had not one ounce of alcohol in her abode.

“Mr. Stark, I hardly think that is an appropriate question.” Coulson informed Tony, who was searching for a drink. “She is a respectable young lady who is trying her best to fit into a society that is similar to previous dimensions she has visited and yet I quote ‘completely different in absolutely minute details.’ She also doesn’t drink, Mr. Stark.”

“Huh, well that’s a complete shame and waste.” The billionaire’s frown deepened. “J.A.R.V.I.S., order up some scotch and rum and have it delivered to this address.”

~Sir, I hardly find that acceptable for the Miss’s domain. She will not like having such amounts of alcohol in her living quarters.~

“Just do it J.A.R.V.I.S.. I’ll take the rest with me, and she’ll have nothing here.”

~Very well, Sir. Does Sir need anything else to accommodate his stay here?~ the A.I. voice now came from the laptop.

“No, J.A.R.V.I.S., I’m fine. So, Coulson, what the hell are you still doing here?” Tony flopped down on the couch, lazily turning on the TV. “Other than bugging our beloved Superstar?”

“Miss Jiru had an appointment an hour ago.” The brown-haired agent said casually, walking over to shut the refrigerator door. “She rarely ignores appointments, unlike you Mr. Stark. So I decided to go ahead and track her down.”

“And?” Tony looked at Coulson with placid interest. “Just for the record, I do try to be a respectable businessman and keep my appointments.”

“She is with Agent Barton.” Coulson gave an even smile and placed his black attaché case just inside the snazzy kitchen and helped himself to the brown teak wood fruit bowl, an apple.

“Well…” Tony looked at Coulson and sighed. “I’m going to kill him for taking my stuff.”

“Very funny, Mr. Stark.” Coulson smiled platonically. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary. She and Barton are both very responsible adults.”

“So you say.” Tony chuckled. “Superstar is probably scaring the hell out of your agent with her randomness.”

“I highly doubt that Mr. Stark.”

“Well, we’ll just wait here and find out, eh, Coulson?” Tony smiled brightly and turned his attention to his hand held digital pad.

“Indeed, we shall.” The agent gave a small smile and pulled out the newspaper of the day.

~~~

The sleek black and green car zoomed down the busy New York streets, handling the roads with high-class style. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sat in the front of the car, the windows open and music thumping through the bass. They had ‘Carp Diem’-ed the crap out of New York City. The female was currently enjoying the wind whipping through her newly-styled hair and giggling her one-glass-drunk-ass off; random things setting her into new fits every few minutes. On the driver’s side, the male was guiding the car expertly around the streets and trying his damned best not to shake his head at the classical laughing-drunk female.

“Ok, Chirpy, I am never letting you drink with me.” Barton tried so very hard to stop from smiling as he focused on driving. “I’m never letting you drink again, period.”

“Oh shut up, Birdie, you’re thoroughly enjoying seeing me make an ass of myself.” The mint green-haired woman giggled once again. “You know you like the laughs.”

“You are such a freaking light-weight.” The archer rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time that evening, brushing off what he knew to be her personably flirty lines. “You had what, one glass?”

“One and a half; remember, you dared me to.” Jiru laughed again, and ran a hand through her now-shorter hair. Barton had taken her to a hair-stylist that afternoon, and they had a blast in getting her a new look. Her unique sparkling hair had been the currency used to pay for the haircut. The evening wind blew through her five-hour new haircut as Barton’s car raced down the road, making its direction to a certain part of New York.

“SCREW YOU, YOU F^&**ING B@$^&*DS!” Jiru leaned out the open window and flipped off passing drivers. “I’M QUEEN OF THE WORLD!”

“Oh my god, just when I thought you couldn’t get any weirder.” Barton swore his face was going to freeze in a perpetual smile at her antics. He had gotten to know the female quite well as the day had progressed; analyzing her personality as she slowly opened up to him as her comfort level grew. “You go and blow the birdie.”

“HAHAHAHA!” Jiru broke into a new bout of uninhibited laughter as she slumped back into her seat. “That’s not the only birdie I wanna blow.”

“Seriously, Chirpy? Did you seriously just go there?” Clint groaned and felt himself blush.

“Hell yea!” the woman laughed and winked at him. “You are serious hot, Birdie. Just how many women throw themselves at you?”

“Uh, not a lot, Chirpy, I’m an S.H.I.E.L.D. assassin. That profession doesn’t really allow close friendships.”

“Oh.” Jiru looked serious. “Well you got me now, so deal with it.”

“What?” Clint blinked and looked over at the shorter woman as she broke out into another fit of giggles.

“I said I’m your new friend, so there.” she switched topics as Barton pulled into the living complex in which Stark had placed her in. “Deal with it. Oh lovely, P.C. is here! Look, that’s his car. Oh how fun, I think I missed…whatever you call that phrase.”

“Check-in?” Clint suggested to her.

“Yea, Check-in.” She giggled once again.

~~~

Coulson and Stark had been waiting for nearly three hours, and the billionaire had been pacing for the last forty minutes. Coulson was relaxed, on the couch, still reading a newspaper.

“I’m going to go rescue her.” Tony blurted out for the fifth time in an hour. He lifted the empty scotch glass to his lips. “Damn, I’m out of drink…”

“Oh?” Coulson looked up from his reading and glanced at the billionaire. “I’m sure she is just taking her time having fun, Mr. Stark. It IS a Saturday.”

“What if-” The Arc-wearing man began, but was interrupted by the penthouse door opening. The half-drunk genius looked at Coulson and the agent looked right back into those blue, drunk eyes.

“I believe that they have returned.” Coulson stated calmly as he folded his paper, set it aside and stood up from the couch. Tony gave a half-strangled laugh and raced into the front room.

“…ALL THE WINDOWS DOWN!” A pair of voices sang off key. Tony and Phil stood in the living room, looking at the scene before them.

Jiru was draped over Hawkeye’s back as the archer carried her in. Both of them were laughing at whatever song was passing between the split-wired headphones they were sharing. The clothes they wore couldn’t be more different; Clint wore a dark green shirt, with black sleeves, and dark jeans while she wore a teal shirt and cherry-pink Capris. A snow-leopard-print hat was over her lovely, now shorter hair and the neon green laces clashed with the blue sports shoes.

“Hey, Superstar, did you let Legolas dress you in that?” Tony snarked at the laughing pair. “So nice of you to invite me along for your day of fun.”

“Why hello thar, Iron-duuude.” Jiru giggled in answer as Barton let her off his back. He removed the ear phone from her and reclaimed the music player. She marched right up to the billionaire and looked straight in his eyes. “As a matter of fact, I have a few things I wanna talk to you about, Iron-duuude.” Behind her, Barton failed miserably in hiding his laughter.

“Whoa, Sparkles, wait a minute.” Tony leaned forward and sniffed her breath. “Are…you drunk? You are drunk, aren’t you?”

“What?” Jiru blinked as her sponsor tested her breath. “Yea, I can drink, I’m of legal age. No I’m not drunk, I only had one glass.”

“Well, I forbid you to drink any more if you are going to dress like that.” He brought a hand up to touch her shorter hair. “Love what you’ve done with your hair, babe, very sexy.”

“What? Don’t touch me.”

“I believe I just did.” He smirked.

“What?” the dimensional walker blinked as her lightly intoxicated brain processed his words. “Are you…wait a freaking minute, you’re drinking too, Stark.”

“Ah, uh, no.” Tony denied, smile-bombing her.

“You are too so drunk!” She stated. “Knowing you, getting drunk is a way to deal with a huge problem. So what is your problem?”

“Problem? My problem is that you take off for the day, and I have no idea where you are.”

“Why, are you mad-” She snorted.

“Mad, no, of course not, I was merely staring at your…I mean I was merely stating that-” Tony stated.

“Staring at what? Are you hitting on me now?” Her voice rose a notch. “Answer me, Tony Stark. You are hitting on me, because that’s what you do to women.”

“Oh, that’s rich, coming from you, who has a huuuge crush on Iron Man.” He responded, motioning to the poster on the wall. “It’s so obvious that you do, Sparkles.”

As the two argued, the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stood to the side, watching the scene unfold with growing confused concern. Phil looked questioningly at Barton and the archer flopped onto the couch, giving a shrug and an ‘I-have-no-idea-don’t-blame-me-for-this’ look.

“Whatever, duuude.” She tossed her head and turned away from the billionaire, a slight blush on her face. “I normally would take that shit and not say anything about it, but I am currently feeling really uninhibited at the moment, so I’m going to…”

Whatever she was going to say was cut off by Tony’s kiss. The billionaire wrapped his arm around her waist and spun her around, placing his lips on hers. Her eyes went wide as the genius tried to deepen his kiss.

“No!” Pushing away him, she took several steps away from temptation. “Don’t do that to me, Tony.”

“What?” He looked at her. “I was only responding to your body language; which by the way, is screaming my name.”

“Don’t….just don’t.” Jiru sighed and brought her fingers up to massage the bridge of her nose. “It’s not fair. You’re dating Miss Potts, aren’t you?”

“Miss Jiru?” Coulson spoke up, making the younger woman flinch. “Do you need help?”

“No…I-just…I’m ok.” She answered the agent, before turning her back to Tony. “I’ve had a long day. I’m sorry I missed check-in, P.C.”

“That’s quite alright, Miss Jiru.” The brown-haired man smiled gently. Coulson glanced at the genius, who was awkwardly refilling his scotch glass, gazing idly at the woman. “S.H.I.E.L.D. has a new mission for you.”

“Ah, uh, No. Double no…negative.” Tony spoke up, snapping out of his trance. “S.H.I.E.L.D. does not get any of my stuff.”

“It isn’t your call, Stark.” Coulson answered back.

“I’m not ‘your stuff’ Tony.” Jiru said, causing Clint to chuckle. “P.C. it’s late, can’t this wait for tomorrow?”

“It really can’t Miss Jiru.” The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent sat back down on the couch, pulling out a thin black folder. “Tell me, have you ever heard of anything called ‘Tesseract’?”

“Tesseract?” Jiru looked at Coulson with confusion. “Isn’t that a cube shape?”

“Something like that.” Phil was somewhat vague.

“If I may say something, which I am going to say anyway-” Tony had put his booze glass down and stood between the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and his ‘stuff’. “You cannot use my newest personal-assistant for your dangerous Tesseract tests, Coulson.”

“Newest personal assistant? What the hell, Stark?” the woman squawked at the genius. “Since when did I get promoted? Heck, I haven’t even heard back if I got the ‘job’ at Stark Towers yet.”

“Besides the point, Sparkles.” Tony turned to her. “Bottom line is; you are not going to get anywhere NEAR that alien-toy.”

“What are you even talking about?” Jiru looked lost. “Excuse me, but you’re not the boss of me.”

“Actually, I am.” Tony’s cocky, narcissistic attitude was back and gaining power. He waggled a finger at her, hoping to get a reaction from her. “You WERE hired at Stark Industries, at Stark Tower, and I personally hired you to work for me; Tony Stark.”

“Huh?” The dimensional walker blinked, watching as the playboy genius poured himself another drink from the bottle on the table.

The evening had set on New York, and the lights in the penthouse room were already on, illuminating the kitchen, the front room and the bathroom. Jiru watched as Barton got up from the couch and moved into the kitchen, throwing open the fridge door to peer inside. Just how three different men managed to sneak into her living abode was beyond her, but Jiru knew that Phil was trying to be serious in light of her vapid giggle-fest and argument with Tony.

“Another thing, Superstar, you really wouldn’t make it on your own on this planet, so you ought to thank me for even rescuing you back there from the freezing cold.”

She froze at the fridge, an apple in her hand.

“That was just plain harsh, dude.” Barton coughed as he came back from the kitchen. The archer had opted to have nothing to do with Tony’s verbal argument, but had to say something to deflect the genius’s last comment. The archer moved over to her side and opened the soda can he finally decided on getting.

“Mister Stark, if you would stop intimidating the young lady, I can inform her of her mission.” Coulson interjected.

“No mission for her, Coulson. I refuse your logic and substitute it with my own.” Tony scoffed, causing the woman to snort. Her laughter was like sunshine for Tony, it was addictive and refreshing. “You thought that was funny, Supernova. Good, you need to laugh more; frowning doesn’t suit you at all.”

“Why don’t you two take it in the bedroom, geez.” Barton coughed lamely.

“Why, Cupid, you jealous?” Tony said flippantly at the archer as he sat next to the woman. “You know she likes me better, I know how to make her laugh.”

“Fury has need of her special talents for a mission.” Coulson stated plainly, interrupting whatever verbal sparring was about to take place between the men. “He needs her permission to utilize her star powers.”

“ABOUT TIME!” Stark shouted with a smile, turning away from Hawkeye. “I was waiting for you today with a surprise, Superstar, but I completely forgot when I saw you in those god-awful clothes.”

“What are you talking about?” Jiru leaned back from her seat on the couch, looking at the genius. “I’m not sure I should accept surprises from you, Tony. My clothes ain’t bad.”

“You are a riot, Superstar. I have created you an arc reactor, powered by none other than your diamond fragment.”

“Swee-et!” She switched to a smile. Tony pulled out a thin, metallic disc from behind his back; in it was her diamond fragment; triangular in shape. “That is wicked cool.”

“Here, Sparkles, put it on.” Tony said, tapping his own chest to indicate where it went. “I had the best time playing with it, but it really is yours. What surprised me was when it became malleable, I about damn near shi-”

“You are starting to freak me out, Stark.” Jiru crossed her arms over her chest, cutting Tony’s foul mouth off. “Malleable? You mean you managed to…?” She knew that the semi-sentient diamond responded to her mental command and physical touch, often morphing into other objects, but for the jewel to allow for another person to change its shape, gave her confusion.

“Yes, I did, Sparkles. Your diamond is out of this world, babe. Take it.” Tony held out the one-of-a-kind Arc-Reactor to the woman in front of him. “When you get back, I’ll show you all my fancy new ideas that I powered by the diamond.”

The woman stared at the billionaire for a few moments, before reaching out and taking the small device from his hand. The round device was similar to the one currently in his chest, only slightly smaller in diameter. The palladium-substitute (Starkium) was missing, since the diamond fragment replaced the new element. The man of Iron’s mini-creation sat lightly in her hands. She stared at it, feeling her brain whirling in thoughts. Was it really wise to allow people in this dimension to mess with something like a starburst diamond, Jiru wasn’t nearly as intelligent as Tony Stark, and had no answers as such.

“Miss Jiru, we really don’t have time for this, our flight leaves in half an hour. We really would like your help with this mission.” Coulson coughed politely, not missing the body language of the woman and her impending zone-out.

“Alright, fine. I’m in.” She answered the veiled question.

“Excellent. Agent Barton, if you will help her pack something decent for this mission, we can leave on time. Director Fury has many things he needs to discuss with you.” Coulson shifted into busy-mode as he reorganized his things and grabbed his briefcase from the table.

“Fine, but I’m not sitting next to her in the car, Coulson.” Clint muttered humorously and stalked into the penthouse bedroom. “It’d be just my luck if she jumps my ass…” He teased.

“We aren’t taking a car, Agent Barton.” Coulson called out after the archer assassin. “Red-Eye flight.”

“YAY, ‘Mile-High Club’!” Jiru shouted, loading the phrase with undertones and being kinky-mouthed. “With Birdie!”

**Author's Note:**

> Uploading an old piece of mine from FanFic.net to here
> 
> Heavy on fluff and romantic tension...and flirting


End file.
